The
consensus of opinion among estate agents reporting at National level is
that the turnaround in the property cycle is now a reality and that the
2010 World Cup is beginning to have a significant effect in the property
sector, says Ivan Neethling, Chairman of the Western Cape branch of the
Institute of Estate Agents.

Estate agency chiefs from all regions are now reporting interest
from foreign buyers. There is, I am told, a strong overseas contingent
prepared to buy, not just rent, for the duration of the World Cup and
longer.

One Kwazulu Natal agent, said Neethling, had sold a R2 million home to
a foreign buyer, and was now lining up other properties for this buyer
and the his associates who are also keen to invest ahead of the 2010 World
Cup.

Foreign buyers are particularly interested in large homes in good
suburbs where they could achieve a good return on the rentals during the
World Cup.

In the rental market, said Neethling, reports from Gauteng and Cape colleagues
testify to good properties, with four to eight bedrooms, close to stadia,
being able to charge R10 000 or more, per night for the World Cup period.
Even owners of fairly humble homes, he said, are finding that they are
being offered rentals of R750 per person per night.